"oh thas right, I uz looking furr... furr a waitresss. she was with thisss young lad. Ugly boy"he said as he scratched his head, "ann hunngry too. Looked hunngry enough ter eat a horshhh." Odat paused, as if just realizing the irony in what he had just said

"Oh yess, an he had some sord of spearrr too" He finished, his epiphany having just passed him by.

Smeed surveyed the ragged band of children with sorrow. It was clear these poor souls had come from Palaten like them - except they were the only ones of their families to make it out alive. Smeed's family had left long ago, either dead or lost to his knowledge - he had had nothing to lose in Palaten but his clientele. These lost boys and girls, however... It awoke a kinder side of Smeed.

He may have been petty, cowardly, and sometimes miserly, but Smeed Wenderferns was not cruel. He watched the children with sympathy as the girl explained their position to him. More survivors? At least these refugees weren't toally alone. He hoped there were adults left too.

The approach of the troll brought Smeed back to the present. The creature was a grisly sight indeed - but its diminished size marked it as the same one that Brother Tantus had befriended. Fortunately, Holly made this clear, and Smeed nodded approvingly when she offered the survivors the troll's hunting results. "Indeed," he added, "We would be honoured if you and your companions would accept whatever help we can offer."

Logged

There is very, very good reason why I believe Life to be a gummy bear, but the exact wording of it escapes me at present. It was something about sugar, anyway.

"Bad". Grumple muttered, staring at the blonde woman first and then at all the others with dismay as she took Grumple's dead warthog. Grumple counted on his left hand, "One, Two, Three... Three people! Plus,... (he managed to count his thumb for this one) ...plus, Grumple! That makes, well, that makes Three..." (although somehow it seemed much worse than that.)

"And only One Pig!" (He was pretty sure of this.)

This was looking very bad, from Grumple's point of view.

Grumple noted a stern glance from Tantus and decided not to raise a fuss. "Friends should share" the little girl had told Grumple so many years ago.

Grumple decided next time to make At-Least-Two-Fewer friends, and stomped off to see if something else could be found to eat.

"Please set yourselves at ease for the moment." Tantus said, trailing behind the troll. It had been rather fascinating to watch the doughty troll regenerate the wounds he had suffered. There were heretical texts in the monastary that detailed the inner working of the living body, examining it for the layers of skin and the grain of muscle and pathway of nerve and blood vessel. In the little troll the diagrams were moving things, knitting themselves back together with ease. No wonder Grumple was always hungry.

The mind of a child, even one close to the summer of adulthood is malleable. Not wholly, formed and thus unsure of itself, or itÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s place in the world. Unlike the ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œmatureÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? minds of those who call themselves adults, childlike minds are not hampered by the constraints of myopic views that, serve as safe mental constructs but, have little basis in reality. In short, the refugees had never seen a bugbear before, so they didnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t know that, if they thought as most adults would, they should fear Tantus, or Grumple for that matter. And so, after a bit of discussion with her ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œLieutenantsÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? Yas agreed to let the group help the refugees and share the spoils of GrumpleÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s hunt. She led them to a clearing in the woods that held the rest of the survivors from Palaten.

Her group of survivors, twenty strong, were ravenously hungry. All but one had merely superficial wounds. The other, a young boy named Yancy, had suffered a broken leg. Yancy was YasÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ younger brother and they had seen their parents slain before their eyes. The boy was feverish and Yas looked at Tantus with eyes that dared to hope he could do something for her brother.

Meanwhile another group of children were attempting to braid GrumpleÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s hair. Children often have no fear and can see to the heart of thingsÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦and Trolls for that matter. Baldwin and Rory were overseeing the digging of the firepit they would roast the boar in. They had many small but strong arms to help themÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦

Logged

"Pain can be your greatest ally, from pain you can learn to apply it, endure it and avoid it. Without pain there is no understanding of reality. If you never get hit with the things you strike out with every thing you know is pure fiction."

holly was talking to a small group of children telling them the tail of the fight which happened not long ago with the soldiers, they were sat there listening intently, gasping at the right places and sighing in relief at others, she stood up slowly as the children groaned "i will finish the story later, i must help my friend's first and then over dinner i will tell the rest of the story" Holly turned and walked to Rory and Baldwin, "there so young!" holly sighed and looked round at the makeshift camp made by the refugees, it was quite homely, the sleeping quarters made of manly leaves and grass obviously collected on the way off there travels, they were bright young children, but some not even old enough to off left there mothers yet, Holly sighed again, she said in a quiet whisper to Baldwin "once we have helped these people, then what? they will need constant food to keep them alive, and they will need somewhere better to stay, they can't all come with us to Halbad, it will be too much of a attention bringer, you know i'm right Baldwin, But we can't just leave them here to die." a young girl ran past and fell over grazing her knee slightly on the floor, but starting to cry, holly walked over said a few comforting word's to the young girl and picked her up, gave her a nice big cuddle, and then set her down to go and play with the rest of the children, Holly felt the anger burn up inside her once again, the hatred for the army who done this to so many innocent children, she would get them if it was the last thing she did, she would destroy them all, every last one of them, she took a deep breathe, once she meet up with the king of Halbad, she would ask to borrow his army, the war would be the biggest ever it would be the last war, the war between good and evil, maybe the children could come with them, they could fight, they could be trained given proper aquipment, taught to use it the correct way, they could avenge there families, kill those who killed the people they loved, they will pay, Holly breathed deeply turned and stormed out of the clearing, she needed some space.

Grumple sat patiently, or at least, patiently for a troll, as the kids braided Grumple's hair. It grew from Grumple's head, and was about shoulder length. Grumple never cut it. Troll hair grew only so far, and then stopped, unless damaged. It was green and rather greasy, so it braided easily.

[As long as we're on the subject, Grumple did not wear anything besides that hair. This was less obscene than one might imagine, since trolls have no visible reproductive organs. They do have a muscular butt -- one that is no more handsome than yours -- but the fact was, people do not attack trolls because trolls ought to wear more clothes, but for more basic reasons like a troll's appetite and ability to fight back so effectively.]

The truth was, Grumple liked children. (No, not for dinner.) They laughed and played and did not automatically attack Grumple. Grumple had talked to children, more or less, when Grumple worked as a guard. And in this case the troll wasn't a hulking 200 - 400 pounds. Grumple was back up to only about 110 now.

Having worked among humans before, Grumple looked over at the others digging a pit and groaned. Grumple knew what they were going to do with the pig. Hold it over a fire until the flavorful scent of roast pork filled the air.

Grumple sat still; glad that at least Grumple's butt wasn't sore any more. Grumple's chest didn't hurt any more, either, but Grumple had forgotten about that. On the other hand, Grumple was not quite able to forget the wound caused by the spear, or for that matter, the spear itself. Not quite. And he could still remember Captain Kraggis.

********************

The Captain could also remember Grumple; at least Grumple's ugly butt. That was his last view as the wounded troll had run off with The Tooth.

And now, here was Sargeant -- no, make that Corporal -- Griswold standing there making excuses!

"You're telling me that the #*!%$@! troll is dead, but a mysterious group of warriors decimated two Dekms?!!" Kraggis roared. "But you miraculously managed to escape?! And let me get this straight!... They had the help of Parthian Archers, a tribe of Blonde Amazons, and several Wizards?! And, oh, yes! This is the best part... Giant Flying Tree Frogs that tore Lieutenant HandsFree, I mean, Lieutenant Hanley to pieces?!!"

(The guard at the manor barely managed to suppress a snicker at this one. Fortunately for him.)

"Get out of my sight, CORPORAL Griswold!! NO! Wait! Make that, tell Lieutenant Millerson to form up a Full Penkwe together. We will leave at dawn!! Get those ballista teams mobilized, too!"

Smeed sat alone, apart from his companions, the children, and the firepit. He needed some time to think things over - and he doubted his spindly limbs would help in the digging of the pit.

Smeed suddenly felt very old, surrounded by children. He had lost count of his years, but he reckoned he was close on sixty - yet he had never been fit, even in his prime. He had been wiry, lean, but not muscular. And now he was just decrepit. He sighed in frustration.

And now fire and steel had come to the lands, and Smeed was completely out of his element. He was used to a little change, being a travelling fortune-teller, but never of a violent sort - this war would turn his world on its head. Of that he was painfully sure. And he had already proven that he was simply a burden in combat. He was useless in the eyes of his companions.

Smeed's sense of honour felt disgusted at him. He was nothing but a burden to the group - even these children before him were ready to fight if needed. Smeed knew that he could never again shed blood - not after the shock from the spear's malign force. Which made him worse than baggage. Even Brother Tantus could do his part and heal the wounded. All he could do was shuffle cards and mumble about lifelines.

Which reminded him - he hadn't cast his horoscope lately. Smeed usually made a point of divining his own fortunes every so often, just to be on the safe side. The last time he had done that was before heading into Palaten - it seemed like a lifetime away. He shuffled in his pack for his cards.

Logged

There is very, very good reason why I believe Life to be a gummy bear, but the exact wording of it escapes me at present. It was something about sugar, anyway.

d**n, thought Baldwin, Holly was right about the children. How would they survive if the group left them to fend for themselves. The thought of being responsible for twenty souls tore at him. He looked at his brother Rory, who was busy teaching a smiling nine year old boy to build a fire, while also teaching him a bawdy drinking song that was a bit mature for a nine year old, or a nineteen old for that matter. Baldwin couldnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t help but smile. Rory was a bad influence.

Soon the fire was lit and the boar was cooking. Grumple looked quite foolish in his new pigtails and Rory couldnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t look at him for more than a few seconds at a time without collapsing into silent laughter that shook his slender frame and nearly brought him to tears. Rory hit Holly up for some more of her wine and after teaching some of the kids how to shoot dice he sauntered over to Smeed who had produced a deck of cards from his bag.

ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œMr. Smeed,ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? said Rory with a twinkle in his eye. ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œWill you read my fortune? He spun a silver piece on a pointed fingerÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦

Logged

"Pain can be your greatest ally, from pain you can learn to apply it, endure it and avoid it. Without pain there is no understanding of reality. If you never get hit with the things you strike out with every thing you know is pure fiction."

holly slid down the tree she was leaning on, putting on a small smile, but there wasnt a smile in her mind, there was anger and frustration, the young girl walked over to Holly and sat next to her "ar' you alrit'" she asked in her little sweet childs voice, holly smiled and nodded "yes i'm fine, just hungry" the young girl laughed a joyfull rightoues laugh which filled holly's ears with the happiness of the young, and how blatently oblivious they were of the real world, of all the danger sat staring into there eye's, Holly sighed and leant back agaisnt the tree, she watched Baldwin and Rory closely, she closed her eye's just for a moment when there was a scream from along the path, Holly's eye's shot open, she stood up and in a flash she had began to run towards the path, there surronding a young girl and a older boy, were Goblins, each Goblin held a 2 inch long knife, and a spear, on there back was a quiver of arrows and a bow, at there side was a long sword, The goblins laughed evily throwing there heads back knowing what they were about to do, the youngsters quivered as they closed in Holly was on her own and she couldnt take them all on, she needed the others here now, where were they? what was taking them so long? Holly retrieved her bow again, and shot one of her special arrow's at one of the goblins, it shrieked, falling to the floor, the others turned on her sneering with faces full of evil.

Grumple heard the scream and looked that way. The blonde lady was running there. Some of the other adults were jumping up and heading that way with weapons drawn. For a second, Grumple wondered whether to stay or go help?

Only a second, of course! Grumple remembered the pig-on-a-spit. (Not that he had ever forgotten it.) Grumple thought, "Not ruined yet! Hmmmmm." Glancing around furtively ...good ...everyone's attention was on the danger. Grumple left the spear behind stuck upright in the ground, and snuck silently through the shrubs around to the firepit in best troll-sneak -- which was pretty darn good. Grumple had years of experience, after all.

Leaning out from the bushes, Grumple stretched out his long, bony arm for the pig; knobby grasping fingers wrapped quietly around a cloven hoof. Fixed on the prize, Grumple's tongue hung out, saliva dripped, taste buds were trembling with anticipation.

OOC: Aww, nuts. Goblins? There goes Mister Smeed's card trick. Oh well. Back to being useless in a crisis...

IC: Smeed was about to wave the coin away - he needed no payment from a friend - when the scream filled his ears. Sweet Lord, what now?

Smeed sputtered his apologies to Rory and clambered to his feet again. "Your fortune? Gladly, good sir, but I fear this shall have to wait... Hark to the cry!" Not waiting for an answer, he left his pack resting where he had sat, and hastened in the direction that Holly had gone, hoping the others would follow suit.

Why was he bothering? He couldn't be of any use in a fight... So why did he rush to send help he couldn't provide? Smeed had no clue; he was acting on instinct alone.

Logged

There is very, very good reason why I believe Life to be a gummy bear, but the exact wording of it escapes me at present. It was something about sugar, anyway.

Holly turned and saw Smeed running up the path, she shot another arrow at the goblins, they all growled in unison, then one jumped then another then another they were coming forward and strong, they had forgotten about the two youngsters and had now managed to surround Holly, keeping close together so as not to leave any gaps for there pray to escape, holly pulled out her sword and stood in a fighting stance, was Smeed the only one who had come to help, holly would have to fight alone if they didn't come soon, but she couldn't die not now not yet, she had too get too Halbad before she died, she had too face the army who had destroyed her home town, she had too, The goblins were closing in swinging there spears and there knifes, some now reaching for there sword's all with the look of repulsion on there faces, Holly stood breathing heavily "come on come on hurry up" she thought to herself as she waited for the others too come.

As the goblins left their intended quarry, Smeed seized his chance. Maybe he could be helpful after all. Edging around Holly and the enclosing goblins, he stumbled over to where the two children stood, their eyes wide with fear. He grasped each by the hand, his knuckled fingers closing comfortingly around their smaller, smoother ones.

"Come, now," he said, in a falsely soothing voice, "Come with me, let's get the both of you away from here... You're not safe..." He wished his voice would stop quavering - the children were still shaking and unsteady on their feet.

Half-dragging, half-coaxing, Smeed ushered the transfixed youngsters to a safer place, half-hidden behind some nearby shrubs. There was little he could do to assist Holly except keep them safe, so he concentrated on calming the two down. The younger girl had started to cry silently, and the boy had the strained look of one who is trying hard not to. Poor things - they had already seen too much, and now this on top of it... "There, there," he said, trying to sound soothing. "It'll be fine, Miss Holly can hold her own against worse than a few goblins..."

Logged

There is very, very good reason why I believe Life to be a gummy bear, but the exact wording of it escapes me at present. It was something about sugar, anyway.

A goblin jumped at one of the children in SmeedÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s care, growling, foul breath close enough for her to smell, the wind from its breath blowing her hair back. It drew back with a long knife to swing at the hapless child then suddenly stiffened as a blade swung across its lower back. The goblin spun with a snarl as Yas backed up, blood dripping from her sword. Fearful determination was stamped on her face as she took another step back. She heard a whizzing sound as something flew past her left ear, tousling her hair. The fletching of BaldwinÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s arrow appeared in the goblinÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s mouth, the point of the arrow piercing the back of his throat and exiting the back of its neck. The second arrow pierced its chest and the third thudded into the torso of one of the goblins surrounding Holly.

Rory was among them then swinging his staff with wild abandon, moving his body like a snake. He thrust his staff into the face of one the force of the strike knocking out three of the monsterÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s teeth with a shower of blood and broken bone. Swinging the weapon the other direction he came down with a vertical sweeping blow dropping his weight into a low stance. The staff crashed into the collarbone of an onrushing goblin hard enough to fracture it. The goblin fell to the ground with a groan where BaldwinÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s fourth arrow thudded into its skull putting it down for good. Four goblins down. Rory scanned the clearing looking for more opponents...

Logged

"Pain can be your greatest ally, from pain you can learn to apply it, endure it and avoid it. Without pain there is no understanding of reality. If you never get hit with the things you strike out with every thing you know is pure fiction."

holly pulled out her sword and swang for a goblin the blade contennecting with the spinal cord, the goblin twitched and fell to the floor, another clean sweep and one off there heads flew from it's place and landed with a thump on the floor, Holly spun round as one of the small knifes cut into her leg, she kicked at the goblin sending it flying into the air, with a move as swift as the wind the blade swung with such strength that it knocked the goblin back into the air like a volley ball, blood spurting all over the place another one ran at Hollys back she spun round caught the goblin by the throat and threw it into a tree pinning it there with another arrow.

OCC: Everyone: I'm sure you have plans for your people; character building and all -- but whenever Grumple is "occupied", and puts down the spear, you are free in my opinion to grab it. You know, see how it affects your people or something? Just a thought.

Anyway, back to the scene of bloody carnage...

IC: Grumple lay on his back in the bushes, gnawing on the sow's rear leg. It had taken a bit of tugging to get it to let go of the lower back, since it was rare. Very rare. Like, extremely rare.

Actually, it was raw, which suited Grumple just fine. The fact that the whole pig, spit, uprights, apple and all had fallen into the fire while he had pulled on the leg didn't bother Grumple at all. Grumple had fixed on the prize and won it, and gnawed it like a hound; with the primordial glee that any carnivore displays when relaxing in its favorite pastime. Eating meat.

"Hmmmmm. Liver?" Grumple thought, looking down his nose and across the leg bone sticking out of his toothy mouth. The question wasn't answered, though, since a goblin came running full speed into the camp. An arrow flew in behind it with deadly silence and hit the annoying little creature in the back. It fell headlong into the pit and began to roast on the coals with the pig.

"Good. Nobody blame Grumple for pig." the troll thought, and stood up with the long leg bone in hand. Like Samson of another time and place armed with the jawbone of an ass, Grumple strode forward and split the Goblin's skull open with a mighty crack, and then clubbed another that came in as it fled from the warriors nearby. It too fell. Grumple clubbed it again for good measure; mostly because he was annoyed at the children watching the mayhem from various location.

Baldwin slung his bow, and drew final judgment halfway out of its sheath. The familiar blue glow faded as the remaining goblins breathed their last. It was soon gone. He breathed easy, his eyes scanning the woods for other threats. The glow disappeared totally and he slid the sword home. He looked at Yas with surprise and growing admiration. SheÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s got heart that one. She looked at him and straightened her back a little, looking at the surrounding forest as she saw him doing.

That was before she was distracted by Rory jumping into the firepit.

How he didnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t get burned to death was a mystery. Grabbing the flaming body of the goblin he heaved it out of the pit his hands were a blur as he stamped on the flames at the bottom of the pit in a vain attempt to put them out while patting at the flames on his clothes. As the flames spread up his tunic he thought to himself that it was smart for him to have taken off his oversized cloak before jumping into the pit while at the same time questioning the wisdom of his decision to jump into the pit in the first place.

BaldwinÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s eyes bulged in alarm. ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œRory! What theÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦!ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? He lunged toward the firepit, ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œGive me your hand fool!ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? Rory bent down, trying to lift the bulk of the boar but it slipped in his hands. He stopped to bat some flames that were trying to make a home in the ends of his hair before trying to lift the bulk of the boar again. He bent his knees and hoisted the pig upwards, bracing it on his legs. ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œTake it!ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? He yelled at Baldwin.

ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œYou DOLT!ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? Baldwin shouted. ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œForget the pig, youÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢re burning up!ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? Rory coughed from the smoke of his burning boots then gave Baldwin a cross look that said: I know IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢m burning IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢m the one thatÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s on fire.

ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œWin, take the pig. ItÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s hot in here, cough! Cough!ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? Baldwin teetered on the edge of the pit about to fall in, then grabbed the boar with both hands, heaving with his back, muscles standing out in ropy knots on his arms. With the combination of the brothersÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ efforts the boar flew out of the pit as if launched from a catapult crashing into Smeed and three children and knocking them headlong. The children were startled but unhurt by the flying pork. Rory followed the boar, the rear of his pants totally engulfed in flames and smoke, he was laughing hysterically now and Baldwin was perhapsÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦overenthusiastically trying to beat out the flames with a tree limb.

Rory fell in a heap, side shaking with mirth. Baldwin stood above him letting a stream of expletives fly demanding an explanation for RoryÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s reckless actions.

Rory answered with smoke wafting from his singed eyebrows, ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œIÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢m hungry, and I wanted to save the pig.ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬?ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦

Logged

"Pain can be your greatest ally, from pain you can learn to apply it, endure it and avoid it. Without pain there is no understanding of reality. If you never get hit with the things you strike out with every thing you know is pure fiction."

A pained screech and a wet thud heralded the final goblin's demise, and Smeed stopped shivering a little. He found he was still holding on to the two childrens' hands, rather more tightly than was necessary. He loosened his grip and gave an embarrassed cough. "There! See, you're safe now, thanks to Miss Holly, Sir Baldwin, and Sir... Rory, I believe."

But what of his cards and his pack? Smeed hustled over to where he had dropped them, stopping only to usher the children over to Rory and Baldwin. They seemed the most capable leaders.

As luck would have it, his cards were scattered, but not damaged - more than a few dirt stains and one that looked like a goblin had spat on it - and his pack was undamaged. Bustling around to gather up the tools of his trade, Smeed remembered his promise to Rory. But, judging by the furious cursing and helpless laughter coming from that quarter, the fellow needed a bit of a rest. Smeed supressed a chuckle.

Logged

There is very, very good reason why I believe Life to be a gummy bear, but the exact wording of it escapes me at present. It was something about sugar, anyway.

Holly took a deep breathe and turned as the same young girl who had fallen and grazed her knee had come running up to her, cheering as if she and the others were hero's from another world, Holly smiled leant down and picked her up "thank you"she said with a small curtsey she walked back to the clearing and watched as Rory was engulfed in the flames and the sound of his laughter all around, she looked around the camp, most people were shaking but had a more than pleased look on there faces. Holly placed the girl down where she ran away giggling, holly leant on a tree and slid down it resting her head in her hands, and her arms on her knees, she was tired and she needed to sleep but she couldn't she looked up and looked at Rory sat there laughing and Baldwin looking quite serious over him, smeed picking up his stuff and grumple sat there, he seemed to be the only one eating.

Private Fox had given up on the drunk, and moved on. "Fool!" he thought. "I'll go find them myself." He followed the distinctive horseshoe prints, being careful so as not to miss one or two breaking off from the trail, since he didn't know which individual held the spear. If Fox lost that trail he had lost it all.

It was clear from what he had seen so far that there was no army of warriors, whether they be Amazons or Wizards -- or Frogs for that matter. Just a half-dozen or so sets of tracks, as best as he could tell. Occasionally he saw a small troll print. The big one was either dead from its wounds or had left the clearing in a direction Fox had missed. But, at least the drunk had told him the spear was with a boy, not a hulking troll.

As evening came on, Fox heard a commotion up ahead. The tracks left the trail and went in that direction, so the Corporal tied his horse in a copse of bushes and proceeded carefully on foot. He saw Rory and Baldwin tossing off Goblin corpses. There was a number of children here... why? Ah, yes, there was the little troll. "A young one," he thought.

Since the spear was standing up in some bushes like a sapling, Fox did not notice it from where he was. He thought, "I'll circle around and climb a tree. See if I can spot the Captain's spear from the other side. But I'll have to move quickly. It's getting dark. With all these kids here, they might come across me or my horse by accident if I wait too long. "

The thought of having to kill a child, even to prevent his capture or death, was sickening to Fox. He hoped he would never be ordered to do so, but knew that it happened all too often for men of the Blackhand Riders.

Holly opened her eye's and stood up, "i'm just going for a walk check the perimeter just incase any of the goblin's slipped away and come back when were asleep" she nodded to Baldwin, to show that she would be alright, and walked off in the direction of the path, she walked slowly looking around making sure there was no one around, when she came over a horse, just standing in one of the bushes just to the side of the path, Holly turned and looked around, trying to make out were this mystery person had gone, once she had looked all around her on the floor level, she lifted her head and looked to the top of the tree's, nothing so far, then a movement over the camp way in a tree, it could be anything it could be a bird, but holly had to find out just incase, she weaved her way through the bushes and the brambles and appeared underneath the tree she saw move, she looked up into the branches hoping to see a bird watching or a cat or something, she looked closer squinting up into the tree's there something there something bigger than a cat or a bird, she hesitated for a moment and then put her foot on a stump just at the bottom.

Grumple had to, shall we say, "powder his nose". But Grumple wasn't like other trolls, oh, no. Grumple did such things discretely; privately. Oh, yes!

Heading off to the bushes outside the camp, Grumple's tummy felt like, well, like his whole tummy needed "powdering". Maybe several other parts, too. In fact, Grumple didn't feel particularly settled at all. One might say it was "something he ate" -- except for the fact that for a troll, it was anything and everything he ate, constantly. Came with the territory, so to speak.

So, with loud rumblings and several crude (but remarkably satisfying) noises, Grumple found a quiet spot near a tree and proceeded to "powder" with his typical enthusiasm and zest.

Being a discrete and private person (or did we mention that?), Grumple was mortified to notice Holly approaching, only the next tree over. This was embarrassing! Grumple grunted as silently as possible between gritted teeth and tried to hurry up with the "powdering", but as you know, friends, Some Things Just Take Time.

So, it was a desperate Grumple who reached around in the brush and grabbed a chunk of log, and lobbed it behind Holly to distract her. It landed with a crash and she instantly jumped like a cat and pulling out a weapon, turned to see.

Imagine her surprise -- not to mention Grumple's! -- when something even larger crashed to the ground in the other direction by the tree. A man! Worse, a soldier. Who took off at a dead run. With the skill of a trained cavalryman, he made a flying leap over the rump of a horse nearby, scrambled into the saddle, and took off back toward Palaten at top speed! No doubt to bring down hordes of reinforcements and horrible destruction upon them all.

"Good." thought Grumple as watched the annoying people leave. "Grumple get peace and quiet now."

If the smell of roast, and burning pig had not been filling the air, somebody would have noticed the strong scent of alchohol coming from Odat as he stumbled into the camp site.

Ah what a glorious smell. Roast pig. Odat was very aware of the fact that he had not eaten in several days now, and that smell seemed a good way to cure his problem. He stumbled into the camp without notice for the dead goblins on the ground, or the children who were watching warily, or for smeed, who he nearly stepped on. Just that smell.

If Odat had been off-balance before, his current state would have made him look sober before. It was literally a miracle that he was upright on both legs, if you could call it upright. His nose followed the smell to the pig and he happily fell down in front of the dead animal and prepared to eat.

He quickly dropped five Copper Stars on the ground next to him to pay for his meal, but the clink of metal on metal caught his attention. They had landed next to a trident. Either that or a divining rod. Odat really wasn't sure how many of those five prongs were there, and how many were illusion. What he did know was that he must have found the inn he was looking for.

That ugly looking boy must have finished eating and forgot to take his thing with him. Odat knew what that meant, that meant that he could finish these leftovers without even having to pay. Odat wasn't very picky after all. It also meant that he could find that waitress...after he had eaten. He would also have to find that boy so he could give him his thing back. But in the mean time, Odat started tearing away strips of meat that once had a leg attached to them, and eating them as fast as his mouth could work.

After all...people didn't seem to like it when Odat finished other peoples leftovers....

(The "Mark", "Star", and"Crown" are coins based on size. Values are measured in multiples of ten (I.E. a Crown is worth ten Stars, and a Star is worth ten Marks). A Crown of any material is worth a Mark of the next more valuable material (so a Copper Crown is worth a Silver Mark and a Silver Crown is worth a Gold Mark). Usually only wealthy men deal in silver, and only the extremely rich deal in gold.)

Holly turned viscously withdrawing her blade and looking around the wood's a sign of something moving and then it happened the man, a soldier jumped down from the tree she had been looking up into and ran, Holly ran after him, jumping over fallen tree's branches and overlapping root's, she stumbled but pulled herself up just in time to see the man riding off towards Palaten on a horse, Holly cursed and turned round walking back in the direction she had come, she jumped and limboed under the tree branches and root's until she arrived back where she had been in the first place, noticing Grumple for the first time, she jumped out of her skin, breathing heavily after her run, she looked back in the direction which the man had fled, then turned and walked back to the clearing. She found Baldwin there with Rory, "Baldwin, there has been a soldier watching us, i believe he may be going back to Palaten to report that we are here, i know that he have not long got here but i believe that we should move, and quickly." Holly sighed looking once again round the clearing, watching all the innocent children playing and laughing, running with all the energy off a newly awoken windstorm, tearing around the clearing throwing up dust with there feet, Holly crumpled falling to the floor her hands in her face, she looked up at Baldwin "We can't leave these children here, they will surely be killed, we must take them with us, we can't just leave them here, if the soldiers come here, they will only have but a few or maybe even none of them left by the end, it's not right," Holly swallowed.